Adventure reality show highlights Nevada's hidden treasures

RENO - There will be no slot machines or showgirls in this Nevada-based reality show.

Mountain biking, a ranch-hand rodeo and a railroad handcar competition will be the headliners in the second annual Nevada Passage adventure.

The syndicated television show begins taping Monday with recumbent bicycle races - the kind where you lie back and pedal - near the town of Battle Mountain, about 210 miles east of Reno along Interstate 80.

Over the next five days of competition, 10 two-person teams will race jet skis on the Colorado River in southern Nevada, pump the handcars at the historic Comstock mining town of Virginia City and brand calves and chase goats in Winnemucca, where members of Butch Cassidy's Wild Bunch robbed a bank in 1900.

"It's a chance to show people what Nevada looks like. It's not just the Las Vegas Strip," said Chris Chrystal, spokeswoman for the Nevada Commission on Tourism, which launched the effort a year ago to promote the state's opportunities for outdoor recreation, from kayaking to mountain climbing.

"People can watch the athletes performing and at the same time get an eye-opener about the wild beauty and the rugged landscape of Nevada," she said Friday.

At least 2 million people saw the first one-hour television show produced by the Honolulu-based TEAM Unlimited, which aired in about 100 markets and cost the state $558,000. This year's budget is $563,000 with similar viewership expected, including eight of the nation's top 10 media markets, Chrystal said.

"We get more than 10 times what we spent back on the return on the investment," Chrystal said, figuring the show and related media coverage was worth $4.6 million in equivalent advertising. "And that's just what we know about."

Last year's competitors from across the country went away with a new appreciation for Nevada's diversity, Chrystal said.

"It was exactly what we found in the focus groups ahead of time," she said. "We would show people pictures of Nevada and they couldn't identify it as Nevada. They thought they were from other Western states."

The teams consist of one man and one woman in like professions - accountants, developers, entrepreneurs, financiers, firefighters, journalists, medics, sheriffs, teachers and trainers.

Defending champions Brian Rothell, 42, Richmond, Va., and Erin Price, 29, Greensboro, N.C., were invited back to compete as Team Firefighters.

"I'm looking forward to it. How many times are you going to get a chance to ride a bull?" Rothell said at a news conference in Reno Friday. "Or is it a steer? Which one is it? I don't know the difference."

Before last year, Rothell said he'd been to Las Vegas and the nearby Nellis Air Force Base when he was in the Marines but nowhere else in the state.

"It was a really neat experience to see the rest of the state of Nevada," he said.

"Last year we saw a rattle snake in the road and some antelopes ran along beside us. We saw a Basque (sheepherder) with sheep. It was like going back in time."

Elizabeth Kollen, a registered nurse from Minneapolis who lived for a year in Reno, met Rothell on an airplane last year when she saw him holding his Nevada Passage trophy headed back home to Virginia.

"I asked him about it and he said 'I had the adventure of a lifetime.' So I decided I have to do this," said Kollen, 25, a member of Team Medics.

"I've been to Reno and Carson City and Las Vegas but I haven't seen too much of the state so it's going to be exciting," she said Friday.

Even Lynn Henderson, 46, one of three Reno residents in the competition, said she expects to learn a thing or two. The personal trainer moved to Reno from Sacramento 25 years ago but has never been to most of the five stops on next week's schedule.

"Being from California, I always thought of Reno as a gambling town. But you are just 30 minutes away from snow skiing or water skiing or hiking or biking," she said.

Schedule

Monday, Stage 1:

Adventure Recumbent (reclining) Bicycle Human-Powered Speed Challenge at Battle Mountain; Nevada State Route 305.

Tuesday, Stage 2:

Adventure Ranch Hand Rodeo at Winnemucca; Winnemucca Special Events Center.

Wednesday, Stage 3:

Adventure Railroad Handcar Races at Virginia City; Virginia & Truckee Railroad yards

Thursday, Stage 4:

Adventure Mountain Bike and Trail Scramble at Austin; Austin Park, Cahill Canyon and Castle Loop

Friday, Stage 5:

Adventure Raceway Autocross at Pahrump; Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch

Saturday, Stage 6:

Adventure Jet Ski Slalom and Obstacle Competition at Laughlin; Colorado River

Competitors

Accountants:

Linda Lindsay, 41, bookkeeper, Petaluma, Calif.

Nate Simonson, 28, credit analyst, Reno

Developers:

Gina DeTolve, 37, project engineer, Valencia, Calif.

Ken Robins, 43, owns building renovation company, Cutchogue, N.Y.

Entrepreneurs:

Janet Soule, 43, owns events management company, Davis, Calif.

Casey Fannin, 45, owns auto parts recycling company, Birmingham, Ala.

Financiers:

Rebecca Batizy, 30, financial adviser, Boulder, Colo.

Tim Sprague, 47, vice president of home building corporation, Las Vegas

Firefighters:

Erin Price, 29, firefighter, Greensboro, N.C.

Brian Rothell, 42, firefighter, Richmond, Va.

Journalists:

Stefani Jackenthal, 39, freelance journalist, New York, N.Y.

Jef Mallett, 44, syndicated cartoonist, Lansing, Mich.

Medics:

Elizabeth Kollen, 25, registered nurse, Minneapolis, Minn.

Richard Costello, 39, emergency medical technician, Warmister, Pa.

Sheriffs:

Ana Maria Gill, 38, law officer, Long Beach, Calif.

Brian Atkinson, 29, law officer, Reno

Teachers:

Laura Home, 32, sixth-grade science teacher, Santa Cruz, Calif.

Howard Greenfield, 30, sixth-grade science teacher, Albany, N.Y.

Trainers:

Lynn Henderson, 46, personal fitness trainer, Reno

Jay Hachadoorian, 33, personal fitness trainer, New York, N.Y.

On the Net

Nevada Passage: www.nevadapassage.com

Nevada Commission on Tourism: www.travelnevada.com